ABSTRACT

The general discourse in educational technology research has understandably tended to focus on generic approaches in higher education while professional education has tended to develop its own approaches and solutions. Using examples of signature pedagogies in professional education, this chapter explains how the development of distinctive professional knowledge, skills, and attitudes should underpin designs for learning and assessment. Although most professionals develop some level of individuality and self-determination in their practice, professional education is often highly structured in terms of predetermined stages of professional development that converge on professional practice. Learners seeking to join a profession are required to do far more than learn about being a practitioner, they must adopt both their chosen profession’s culture and ways of working. Technology use in professional education also helps us to reflect on some of the less frequently considered organizing principles for professional education in the digital age.